Communication

 Cell Phones – Friend or Foe?

Do you carry a pager?  If you carry, or have carried a pager, you know what it means to never be totally away from work.  There was once the realization that you might be driving, or perhaps in the middle of the checkout line at the supermarket and might need to find a phone.  I know that when placing a page for someone years ago, I knew that they might not be calling back for 15 to 30 minutes, depending on where and what they were doing.   Today, in the age of cell phones, that has changed.  Everyone, or so it seems is now wired.  Of course I am not referring to the Internet, which is a whole different topic.  Today, if you have a mobile cell phone listed on your business card, it is expected that anyone will be able to reach you in an instant.  So unless you turn the thing off, or somehow fake a depleted battery, you have no excuse for not being reachable.  

   In a meeting (sometimes), at a movie, on a plane, are some of the only reasons we have anymore, for not being instantly available.  We have been told for years that all the new electronic work devices would help make work easier.  Instead, voice mail, Fax’s, e-mails, pagers, and cell phones are but tools of an evermore overloaded and complex environment over-which we are slowly losing control.  

   Between answering all the messages and becoming involved in all the conversations, it is really becoming difficult to get any work done! 

   I would take a break, but I really need to return a call.  Hope they left a cell number so I don’t have to leave a message.